Kim Mulkey among six honored with statues at Louisiana Tech

Kim Mulkey, coach of the national champion LSU Tigers women’s basketball team, was one of six legendary athletes for Louisiana Tech honored by the school with statues unveiled Wednesday night in Ruston, Louisiana.

The NBA’s Karl Malone, the WNBA’s Teresa Weatherspoon and the NFL’s Terry Bradshaw, Willie Roaf and the late Fred Dean were the other honorees. The statues are on the Sarah and A.L. Williams Champions Plaza, which is part of the redesign of the north end zone entrance to Joe Aillet Stadium.

Mulkey, a native of Louisiana, played for AIAW and NCAA championship teams in 1981 and 1982 for the Lady Techsters. She was then an assistant coach for 15 seasons at her alma mater, including the 1988 championship season when Weatherspoon was the team’s point guard.

560-74 record as player and coach
11 Final Fours
3X National Champion
All-American@KimMulkey is forever a Lady Techster 🩵♥️ pic.twitter.com/f2B8stkRqc

— Lady Techsters (@LATechWBB) September 21, 2023

Mulkey went 130-6 as a player for Louisiana Tech and was 430-68 as an assistant coach there, before going on to be the head coach at Baylor, where she guided the Bears to three NCAA titles. She took over at LSU in 2021 and won the national championship in her second season with the Tigers.

“Incredible night with even better people, reminiscing on memories that will last a lifetime,” Mulkey wrote on social media Wednesday, congratulating the other honorees.

Weatherspoon was 31 when the WNBA debuted in 1997 and played eight seasons in the league, seven with the New York Liberty. Both Mulkey and Weatherspoon were also Olympic gold medal winners as players, as was Malone. He spent 19 seasons in the NBA, all but one with the Utah Jazz, who have a statue of him outside their arena in Salt Lake City.

Malone, Weatherspoon and Mulkey are all in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.

Bradshaw won four Super Bowls as a quarterback with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Dean, who died in 2020, won two Super Bowls as a defensive end with the San Francisco 49ers. Roaf was an offensive tackle for 13 seasons in the NFL. All three are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.